LXM Pro: East coast debut in Philadelphia just a month off

On its first two stops, the LXM Pro tour brought a festival atmosphere to a pair of locations not known for lacrosse and had solid successes, drawing big crowds to its clinics/concert/gameday production.

Now, the organizers hope they can surpass that success with their first stop on the east coast, bringing the roadshow to suburban Philadelphia on August 28th.

"We kind of wet our beak on the west coast and it's been great," says Xander Ritz, one of the key figures in the LXM organization and native of Philadelphia. "Obviously we're hoping for a large audience because there are so many [lacrosse] kids out there. We're excited to see how [the LXM style] works here in the east.

The event, which follows in the footsteps of similar showcases in southern California and Austin, Texas, kicks off with a free youth clinic at 2PM at Radnor High School (which is where Xander and brother Max - also associated with LXM - attended), followed by a concert featuring Washington, DC artist Wale and capped at 5PM by the LXM Pro game.

In Los Angeles and Austin, LXM drew great crowds for the free clinic and brought in some big names for the pro showcase, allowing the non-hotbed crowds to see former college stars - many for the first time. On August 28th, the organizers have the new challenge of bringing their showcase to a place that produces many of those same type of players and has several Division I programs within a short drive.

They had to step their game up.

"Obviously the game is already here… You've had an MLL team, Philly fans know big-time lacrosse, but they've never had an event like this," says Kyle Harrison, 2005 Tewaaraton Trophy winner at Johns Hopkins and LXM Pro living out in California when not traveling to camps and clinics. "We all worked hard to make sure the rosters are tight. We've got [Casey] Powell, [Kenny] Nims, [Steven] Brooks, [Brandon] Corp and plenty more. We're all excited. We've got a great artist in Wale that people want to see and a great atmosphere. We think we're going to put our best foot forward."

The roster, which has a core group of official LXM Pro's but varies from location to location depending on availability and other factors, is definitely impressive. Former college superstars like Powell, Harrison, Nims, Brett Hughes, Alex Hewit, Joe Walters and Michael Watson are joined by a number of notable Philly natives with solid playing chops of their own like the Ritz brothers, Scott Kahoe and Michael Colleluori. (To see the full rosters, click here)

"The players really speak for themselves," says Scott Hochstadt. "I would match these teams against any MLL team and be pretty confident. As far as the product on the field, that's what we're going for and we feel that these are legitimate professional lacrosse teams."

One thing that the LXM folks have been accused of by some (mostly anonymous) critics is turning the game into a sideshow. By virtue of some players' appearances on shows like The Hills and the gossip pages, some crow about these events exploiting lacrosse for personal gain, an accusation that those involved with the organization are quick to discredit.

"I think anybody that questions what we're about should really look at the people we have involved and what we do," says Ritz. "Scott and the rest of us are involved directly at growing the game at the grassroots level and we've put lacrosse sticks in thousands of kids' hands through club teams and tournaments.

"If somebody wants to say that because sometimes we show up on TV that we're doing it wrong, that's their call. But it's also helping put lacrosse in people's minds and making it more synonymous with other sports. It's all marketing and sports entertainment."

The entertainment factor of the Philadelphia event is one that all of the LXM organizers are excited about, as Wale resonates with both the east coast audience that will be filling the stands, but also the lacrosse audience specifically.

"He's just a great fit for this event," says Hochstadt. "He's popular not only in general, but specifically in lacrosse. You hear him coming out of a lot of locker room iPods."

The 25-year-old follows in the footsteps of previous LXM acts like 3OH3 and Carolina Liar and recently performed at Baltimore's Artscape festival. The Rockville, MD native (and, apparently cousin of the actor who played Chris Partlow on The Wire) had his major label debut with last year's Attention Deficit and his style consists of rap flavored by DC's 'go-go' style.

"Wale has fans in DC, Baltimore, Philly, all around," Harrison Says. "Hopefully we get some of the music crowd out here to watch him perform and then they stick around for the lacrosse game and talk about both being cool. That's the idea and what we're hoping for."

Touting a family-friendly atmosphere that is designed to be enjoyed by youth players at the clinic, their parents, the music crowd and the lacrosse people that show up, Hochstadt and Co. are excited for their east coast debut and hope that it leads to more stops in this area.

The next stop on the tour after Philadelphia will be Jacksonville on October 16th, followed by San Diego and Los Vegas in early 2011.

"We're already excited about every event we have planned, but I think this is going to be a heck of a day," Hochstadt says. "We get to stop at home, spend some time with family and put together a great lacrosse experience.